1. October 14, 2015
Lecture 10: Ancient Near East
Summary =
From the influence of people like Ian Hodder and Lewis Binford, archeology
has shifted from processual (fact, fact, fact) > post processual (60s-80s)
and finally > post-post processual (used today). The evolution of these
methods show that archeology is not a perfect science, but it is constantly being rewritten to reflect our new
knowledge.
Neolithic Revolution/Fertile crescent: area where first domesticated animals found
- Women probably figured this out bc they’re the hunter-gatherers
- Domestication of plants/animals
- Q: Do you start domesticating in areas that are fertile?
o ^yes bc it requires less work
o Lots of hypotheses on this
Gobekli Tepe 9600 BC
- Klaus Schmidt started excavating from 1996-2014
- During a survey – he found a stone with animal pieces on them arranged in a circle
- Classification: when we don’t know what a thing is, we turn to religion
- Gobekli Tepe was considered “the world’s first temple”
- ^the oldest known example of something bigger than a hut
- Importance: This site is threatening to change everything we know about this period
Jericho
- Biblical site
- One of the earliest (fortified) inhabited places`
- Joshua and the Battle of Jericho –
o Said his pottery/stratigraphy was proof of the biblical
story
- Excavated by Garstang
o Asked Kathleen Kenyon to check his pottery dates
Purple = important person
Blue = important place
Green = important concept

2. October 14, 2015
o ^She said he was way off so she started her own dig @ Jericho too in 1950s
- Jericho Tower 7500 BCE (Pre Pottery Neolithic A)
o Excavated by Kathleen Kenyon
o Earlier than Joshua & the battle of Jericho, so more important
o Was either a tower to prevent attacks from neighbors or storage unit for grain and
food
o In one week of harvesting, you could get a year’s worth of food for your city
 To store: used tower as a grain elevator
- Jericho Tomb - “Intermural burials”
o Reusable/Family Tombs:
They placed dead people in tombs, closed it, and reopened them when new bodies
came in
- Jericho Skull
o Dead bodies were left somewhere to disintegrate,
then they took the skulls off and plastered the skull
w/ mud, placed shells for eyes etc then brought
skulls into their homes. Bodies were left in the
tombs
o Maybe for ancestral worship
o Secondary site bc they’ve been moved
Catal Hoyuk (6500-5600 BCE)
- Pre-pottery Neolithic
- South eastern Turkey
- <- Excavated by James Mellaart from 1961-65
- All buildings/homes are interconnected
- Special bc no streets/windows/doors btw rooms &
homes
o How? Tunnels, windows, ladders from roof to roof
o Why? Rudimentary form of fortification/protection from large animals, nearby
cities

3. October 14, 2015
Ian Hodder
- Legacy: Paved the way for a new era in archeology
o Wrote a book called ”The Goddess and the Bull” sociocultural analysis
o Refined the art of fundraising:
 Had fashion shows where models wore Catal Hoyuk inspired
outfits!
o Started “post processual” archeology
Now we’re in a Post-Post Processual “new pragmatism”
Post Processual – Ian Hodder was opposite of Binford
There’s more than one voice from the past
Rejects cultural/evolutionary generalizations
You can’t say we’re a science
We’re not objective or neutral, acknowledge our biases
Processual – Lewis Binford called for archeology to have scientific laws
60s- 80s
Wanted archeology to be considered anthro
Universal law-like generalizations
Archeologists should be objective & neutral. That’ll give em more
credibility and scientific process
Before, people did processual archeology aka traditional "fact fact fact"
method. Reconstructed history!